Highs & Lows from our pre-Xmas trip!

[Elise79]

Hi all! Just thought I would add our highs & lows from trip 12-23 December. So let's start with the lows:

Teppan Edo - they have changed the menu a bit. They are serving different noodles which are very thin and don't have the same flavour. They have also replaced the mushrooms with cabbage & carrot which wasn't good.

Getting food poisoning spent the whole of one night up sick and it spoiled a good few days. DH also had it too. Fortunately DD ate different food to us so was ok.

Fast pass + - yep not loving it. Would be better if they held back some inventory for the day as we do not want to plan every single day 60 days out.

Highs:

Clearwater Marine Aquarium - took DD to see Winter & Hope and she loved it. Really nice change of pace and really interesting place. DD also met and had her photo taken with Austin Highsmith who played Phoebe in the movies which she loved. Also very impressed with the CEO/Director of the Aquarium really nice bloke who takes a real interest.

Longboat Key/Skinnys - these two never disappoint. Lovely walk in the sun along the beach followed by some really good food!

BLT - love staying here the ability to walk to MK can not be underestimated. Plus ToTW is nice for a drink at night. Lucked out with a standard room that was partial MK view so could watch the fireworks from our balcony or living room.

Photo pass - had lots of good shots this time and pleased with the value of MM.

MagicBands - still love them convenience can not be beaten!

I will upload some photos later!

 

[1andrea]

It sounds like your highs outweighed the lows however the food poisoning sounds awful

The museum sounds great, i will look that one up, can't wait to see some photos.

x

 

[dixonsontour]

What a shame you were sick.

Glad you enjoyed the aquarium. We took DD in 2012 when she was 6 and she loved it.

DD was using a prosthetic arm at the time (she chooses not to now) and took her 2 'armies' to show Winter.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Sounds like a great holiday and the weather has been really nice too

Shame that you and DH got food poisoning, not nice anywhere

 

[RDP]

Would love to hear more about BLT. We are hoping to stay at either GFV or possibly BLT before our Cruise with DCL in August. We stayed at the CR in a tower room with a bay lake view this year and enjoyed the location. Any tips?

 

[DLPDreams]

Glad you had a good trip overall. Yuck on the food poisoning - was it at Teppan Edo? I really fancied there for a meal!

I love the look of the BLT - very nice!

Have to say, I am now starting to get down to proper planning of our trip in August and it's giving me some stress! I can't believe I feel I have to plan so much - I've literally spent hours on Touring Plans trying to organise our days! So, your comments about FP+ make me feel uncomfortable. It seems FP+ just isn't so good if you go at a busy time, yes you get to ride 3 'good' rides (or whatever you pick), but the choices for subsequent rides seem almost non existent on the day!

 

[disneyholic family]

sorry about the food poisoning! that's AWFUL any time, but on a holiday all the more.

regarding FP+
DD was there in november and said she was glad she'd reserved hers as she did..
everyone had told her not to 'waste' FPs on late day events (like wishes/fantasmic/parades/etc) so that she could get a 4th FP when she was there...
she decided to do the late day FPs anyway as fantasmic and wishes are very important to her....she was very happy she'd done it...
she found that there weren't really any FPs to be had once she was there....when she tried to switch FPs around, there just wasn't any availability...so she was happy she had gone ahead and 'wasted' her FPs on what she really wanted...

 

[Elise79]

Food poisoning wasn't nice but really didn't stop us doing anything although it slowed us a little - we had to keep going for DD!

Other highs I forgot:

Both our VA transatlantic flights were excellent Outbound to Newark in E was comfortable. Crew were good, food edible Home PE MCO to LGW we had 2 of the best crew I have ever had and I am going to email VA to praise them. Didn't attempt any of the cooked food so can't comment on that.

JetBlue EWR to MCO - brilliant. Crew friendly, snacks & drinks free onward, TV channels, free wifi and one of the cheapest airlines. They have our loyalty for internal US flight Arriving before lunchtime in Orlando is also amazing

Finally, Hertz - Gold service. Worked perfectly even though or flight landed 45 minutes early. Really good almost new car. Built in SatNav too

Now some photos:
Frozen Funland at DHS:


Longboat Key:


Austin Highsmith at CMA:



Winter:


Hope:

 

[Elise79]

Would love to hear more about BLT. We are hoping to stay at either GFV or possibly BLT before our Cruise with DCL in August. We stayed at the CR in a tower room with a bay lake view this year and enjoyed the location. Any tips?

We love BLT As its our home resort we usually book Std view however after a run of getting 1st floor rooms which we hate and having to move from now on we are booking Lake view. We prefer the layout of the outside one bedrooms as when we stay in December we have a 7ft Christmas tree that goes up in the middle of the living room window and the outside rooms have a bigger window. The inside rooms are nice though as they have a separate laundry room which I do miss with the outside rooms

Glad you had a good trip overall. Yuck on the food poisoning - was it at Teppan Edo? I really fancied there for a meal!

I love the look of the BLT - very nice!

Have to say, I am now starting to get down to proper planning of our trip in August and it's giving me some stress! I can't believe I feel I have to plan so much - I've literally spent hours on Touring Plans trying to organise our days! So, your comments about FP+ make me feel uncomfortable. It seems FP+ just isn't so good if you go at a busy time, yes you get to ride 3 'good' rides (or whatever you pick), but the choices for subsequent rides seem almost non existent on the day!

Teppan Edo was after the food poisoning incident (we think it was shrimp that caused it) however it used to be so good but I can't see how flat top cooked cabbage is ever going to taste good Probably going to try Tokyo Dining next time. Via Napoli is another on our list to try instead too as we need somewhere for our CP package next December.

sorry about the food poisoning! that's AWFUL any time, but on a holiday all the more.

regarding FP+
DD was there in november and said she was glad she'd reserved hers as she did..
everyone had told her not to 'waste' FPs on late day events (like wishes/fantasmic/parades/etc) so that she could get a 4th FP when she was there...
she decided to do the late day FPs anyway as fantasmic and wishes are very important to her....she was very happy she'd done it...
she found that there weren't really any FPs to be had once she was there....when she tried to switch FPs around, there just wasn't any availability...so she was happy she had gone ahead and 'wasted' her FPs on what she really wanted...

For us being there 11 days - I happily booked one full day at each park plus a couple of extra days in MK to get all our must dos. The other days we wanted to give DD a choice of what she fancied but either the day of or the night before couldn't get any "headliners" at any park except MK. I didn't get to ride TT this trip because of it (I missed it as I had a late start when DH took DD as I was still feeling sick)

Being at BLT we always spend more time in MK anyway and Fps there were not an issue - we always got 3 rides we wanted with a little messing about.

My wish is that they would release some at park opening so not every day has to be booked months in advance. I think I might email them on this as an AP holder it is limiting to what we can do.

 

[Chilly]

The Aquarium sounds good, we are thinking about a day in Clearwater, did it take you long to get there?

 

[Elise79]

The Aquarium sounds good, we are thinking about a day in Clearwater, did it take you long to get there?

It was suppose to take about 1.5hrs however we caught holiday traffic in Tampa taking the journey to over 2 hours. It was still fine for a day trip :good vibes

The aquarium isn't pretty but I like that they are actually doing really good rehab and release work and the money goes to the animals rather than rides :good vibes

Watching Winter and Hope who are obviously happy and comfortable is nice unlike the poor Dolphins the last time we went to SeaWorld.

 

[DLPDreams]

Teppan Edo was after the food poisoning incident (we think it was shrimp that caused it) however it used to be so good but I can't see how flat top cooked cabbage is ever going to taste good Probably going to try Tokyo Dining next time. Via Napoli is another on our list to try instead too as we need somewhere for our CP package next December.

Tokyo Dining looks good too - I typed a long list of the restaurants I am thinking of booking last night and somehow I lost it before it sent (could have sworn I sent it!). Took me ages to compile too!

For us being there 11 days - I happily booked one full day at each park plus a couple of extra days in MK to get all our must dos. The other days we wanted to give DD a choice of what she fancied but either the day of or the night before couldn't get any "headliners" at any park except MK. I didn't get to ride TT this trip because of it (I missed it as I had a late start when DH took DD as I was still feeling sick)

Being at BLT we always spend more time in MK anyway and Fps there were not an issue - we always got 3 rides we wanted with a little messing about.

My wish is that they would release some at park opening so not every day has to be booked months in advance. I think I might email them on this as an AP holder it is limiting to what we can do.

I am with you on this. I have been tracking FP+ availability since joining TPs and there never seems to be any headliner FPs on the actual day available which is an issue, especially where a park has a tiered system. It really does concern me as I know August is going to be busy. The silly thing is, FP seems to work really well when the parks are medium to quiet - as there is availability after your first 3 choices - but that doesn't help at busy times when you actually need the FPs!

 

[Mummycat]

Yeah sounds like you had a great trip, love your highs but not so keen on the food poisoning bit-hope you recovered quickly
We went to longboat key last year following several recommendations (including yours ) and loved it. During our August 2015 trip we hope to do 3 nights there as 1 wasn't enough last time Haven't heard of Skinnys- where is it?
Also want to visit Winter and Hope so pleased to hear its doable in a day. Thanks for the tips and glad you had a great time

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Hey

I wanted to come on and read your highs and lows - I didn't realise you got sick boo!

I have a couple of questions for you:
BLT - OK so having never stayed there what is the outside/Inside differences I've never heard of these before? Where can I see the room layouts? What type of room is the Lake View 1BR?

Hertz - Gold - hmmm I was just looking at this and wondering whether to ditch Avis on the next trip and go with Hertz if the price is good. What do you think?
Did you book direct with Hertz?

 

[disneyholic family]

For us being there 11 days - I happily booked one full day at each park plus a couple of extra days in MK to get all our must dos. The other days we wanted to give DD a choice of what she fancied but either the day of or the night before couldn't get any "headliners" at any park except MK. I didn't get to ride TT this trip because of it (I missed it as I had a late start when DH took DD as I was still feeling sick)

Being at BLT we always spend more time in MK anyway and Fps there were not an issue - we always got 3 rides we wanted with a little messing about.

My wish is that they would release some at park opening so not every day has to be booked months in advance. I think I might email them on this as an AP holder it is limiting to what we can do.

DD was there for 15 days..
we started reserving her FPs a few days late (not right at 60 days) as i hadn't succeeded in getting her 14 day ultimates in time for the 60 days (i have to buy them via a UK travel agent, as we're not permitted to purchase them directly - not being in the UK or EU - Disney UK specifically told us to contact a UK travel agent to buy the tickets for us as they understand that it's not fair that we can't buy them too - since we're also not in north america).

Anyway, we started booking her FPs probably at about 55 days or maybe 50 days...
we started with her first few days, didn't get any headliners at MK, then i had the bright idea of going backwards, to her last day...
that way we were able to snag all the headliners at MK for her..

as i mentioned, she very much wanted wishes and Fantasmic....
so she "wasted" her FPs on that....as i said, everyone on the disboards told her to avoid late day FPs so that she would be able to get a 4th FP.....
in addition to wishes, she had late day FPs for anna and elsa and for the talking mickey....both of those were only available late in the day....so she took them when she could and didn't worry about not being able to get a 4th FP....
And like you, she found that in any case, there weren't any FPs to be had in the park. Not anything that you would want to get.

I agree with you that they should hold back availability for the parks..

not just for AP holders....what happens to people who spontaneously decide to go to WDW - a few weeks in advance.....when we lived in the US, we used to do that all the time..
we've even done that from here..
we once went two days after deciding to go (from here - very spur of the moment)..
what happens to people like that? they're not able to get any 'decent' FPs at all.
What's their experience like i wonder..
or for complete newbies who don't have a clue....once someone explains FP to them when they get there, what actual FPs do they manage to get?

 

[Elise79]

Hey

I wanted to come on and read your highs and lows - I didn't realise you got sick boo!

I have a couple of questions for you:
BLT - OK so having never stayed there what is the outside/Inside differences I've never heard of these before? Where can I see the room layouts? What type of room is the Lake View 1BR?

Hertz - Gold - hmmm I was just looking at this and wondering whether to ditch Avis on the next trip and go with Hertz if the price is good. What do you think?
Did you book direct with Hertz?

With BLT due to the shape of the building the room layouts are slightly different although they are the same size! The rooms outside have a curved outside edge and the living rooms taper in towards the door. They have a laundry closet with a stacked washer dryer situated just behind the kitchen. They also have a small wardrobe by the connecting door.

The inside rooms are completely square. This means that the window in the living room is not as wide however you do gain a whole laundry room at the other end!

Hertz and Avis are both very similar and would use either depending on price. I like arriving at garage and heading straight for the car bypassing all desks.